Gainesville City Commissioner, Thomas Hawkins comments, “Every transportation project does some economic development as well as doing transportation the reason why you might want to look at something like streetcars because its more expensive than other options is because it can help with economic development.”

The city began looking into the plans for Gainesville street cars in 2009.

Commissioners propose that the system would act as a connector for people in the community job centers and structured parking in congested areas of town like

Shands,The VA, University of Florida campus, Innovation Square, the power district and downtown.

Tindale Oliver and Associates has been selected as the company to conduct Gainesville’s study.